Assembled greenhouse structure

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to an assembled greenhouse structure, mainly comprised of a frame structure and a transparent or translucent sheet material that is disposed on the frame; the characteristic of the invention lies in that the frame for positioning said sheet material is composed of a stand, roof sheathing, and connectors; the stand and the roof sheathing are formed as aluminum alloy extrusions, the connectors are an elastic member, having one end thereof embedded in a sliding slot on the inner side of the roof sheathing, and the other end thereof has an elastic hook portion vertically inserted in a slot coupling corresponding to the stand. Accordingly, the invention disclosed herein achieves the objectives of presenting a pleasant appearance from the exterior and with the advantage of rapid assembly of the greenhouse.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

I. Field of the Invention

The present invention refers to an “assembled greenhouse structure,”especially to a greenhouse frame structure that applies a pleasantappearance from the exterior with the advantages of easy and convenientassembly, disassembly, and replacement of components.

II. Description of the Prior Art

Generally, a conventional greenhouse is comprised of the following fourstructures:

1. A greenhouse frame structure of a prior art made of one-piece metalstands (aluminum extrusion metal) (as shown in FIG. 6), wherein eachstand 61 has at least a gutter 62 set on the lateral side thereof,wherewith to sandwich a transparent or translucent sheet material 63 inbetween. Upon the assembly of said conventional greenhouse structure,each of the sheet material 63 has to be embedded in the opening of eachsaid gutter 62 and positioned between two corresponding stands 61;however, some of the openings of said gutters 62 are unable to be usedfor embedding the sheet material 63 after all stands 61 are assembled,for the openings of said gutters 62 are hidden. Consequently, the standsand the sheet material of said conventional greenhouse structure have tobe assembled at the same time. However, the drawback of assembling saidgreenhouse lies in that the whole structure is not stable before theframe structure is completely assembled, so it requires a lot of timeand work to set up the stands 61. At the same time, another shortcomingis seen when embedding said sheet material 63 in the gutter 62 of twocorresponding stands 61; another drawback is the difficulty indismantling, repairing, or replacing some of the components. Saidconventional greenhouse is, therefore, not suitable for do-it-yourselfassembly. In addition, it is much more difficult for a user todownwardly insert sheet material 63 in two corresponding long and narrowgutters 62 after the whole stand is constructed by increasing 4˜8 timesof working hours; moreover, in general, the openings of said gutters 62are set on the top, so that it causes danger to a user who climbs to theroof to downwardly insert said sheet material 63.

2. A metal stand with a T-shaped cross-section surface (as shown in FIG.7A), the stand 71 has a protruding rib structure 711 vertically disposedin the middle of the interior; upon the assembly completion of the stand71 into a greenhouse frame, the interior of each of the rectangularframes is covered over by a sheet material 73; subsequently, the spacebetween the edge of the sheet material 73 and the rib structure 711 ofstand is inserted with a rubber or plastic layering 72 to position saidsheet materials 73 thereof. Therefore, firstly, each stand can beassembled into a complete greenhouse frame structure; then each of thesheet material 73 is covered on an individual frame and said rubber orplastic layering 72 is pressed into the space along the edge of thesheet material 73 and the rib structure 711 of stand in order tocomplete the assembly of said greenhouse. The drawbacks of the assemblyof the conventional greenhouse structure of FIG. 6 can be effectivelyimproved; however, it is time-consuming work to press respectivelayering 72 into the space. In addition, said rubber or plastic layering72 for elastically positioning the sheet material 73 comes off easily;moreover, the rubber or plastic layering 72 is easily deformed, cracked,or broken under long-term weather exposure. Another drawback of saidconventional greenhouse structure is the lack of an integral pleasantappearance for it is the combination of assembling the aluminum stand 71and the rubber layering 72 together.

3. Another greenhouse structure that has improved from a conventionalgreenhouse structure shown in FIG. 7A replaces the above rubber orplastic layering 72 with a metal button 74 (as shown in FIG. 7B) toposition said sheet material 73. Although said improvement enables ashortening of the time required for pressing the layering into the spaceof the structure, the metal button coupling the sheet material 73 haspoor stability and strength on the assembly of the structure.Furthermore, it is difficult to dispose of respective metal buttons 74at appropriate intervals and said appearance of greenhouse seems not tobe strong enough without a better outlook.

4. Another greenhouse structure that is composed of a aluminum extrusionstand 81 and a plastic layering 82 (as shown in FIG. 8) has a Y-shapedrib 811 disposed on the lateral side of the stand 81; in addition, theinner side of the opening of the Y-shaped rib 811 has an embedded groove812 inwardly formed on the flange thereof; two fins 821 are formedinside both lateral sides of the layering 82 on the slant, an arrow-tipshaped button 822 is protruding out and inwardly formed in the middle ofthe layering 82; the button 822 is formed in a strip shape to beembedded in said groove 812. Upon the assembly of the greenhouse foruse, a sheet material 83 is firstly placed in a frame formed by two andabove Y-shaped ribs 811 of the stands 81 and then the button 822 of thelayering 82 is pressed into the embedded groove 812 of the Y-shaped rib811 for positioning, thereby enabling the fins 821 of the layering 82 toset against the sheet material 83 for positioning said sheet material 83on the structure. The drawbacks of said conventional greenhousestructure are that it is time-consuming work to press and fit thelayering 82 with the stand 81 for the integral combination of thestructure; secondly, when the button 822 of the plastic layering 82 isremoved from said groove 812, the button 822 is easily broken and cannotbe re-used. Moreover, seeing that the material of the stand 81 differsfrom that of other components, said greenhouse structure has aninconsistent appearance; the layering 82 has a shortened life span dueto long-term weather exposure.

To solve the foregoing drawbacks of the assembly and use of saidconventional greenhouse structure, the invention is disclosed herein.The main objective of this invention is to provide an assembledgreenhouse structure that applies an easy, convenient, and rapidassembly method to save time and work in dismantling or replacingcomponents with the advantage of a pleasant appearance from the exterioras well as providing sun and wind protection.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the drawbacks of prior art, an innovative “assembledgreenhouse structure” is therefore disclosed hereafter. The mainobjective of the present invention is to provide a frame structure and atransparent or translucent sheet material that is set on the frame; thecharacteristic of the invention lies in that the said frame of thegreenhouse frame structure for positioning the sheet material iscomposed of a stand, a roof sheathing, and a connector; the stand andthe roof sheathing are made of aluminum alloy extrusion. In addition,the exterior surface of the stand has at least a slot coupling, the roofsheathing on the inner side thereof has at least a sliding slot, theconnector is an elastic member, having a T-head on one end thereof to beembedded in the sliding slot on the inner side of the roof sheathing andthe other end thereof has an elastic hook portion vertically inserted inthe slot coupling corresponding to the stand.

Accordingly, when the greenhouse structure of the invention is assembledin use, a plurality of stands are formed into the frame and then theroof sheathing is used to position said sheet materials by embedding aplurality of connectors into the sliding slot at proper intervals;subsequently, the plurality of the connectors inside the roof sheathingare combined together with the hook portion by inserting said hookportion in the slot coupling of the stand. Therefore, the invention isan assembled greenhouse structure that applies an easy, convenient, andrapid assembly method, so as to save time and work in assembling,dismantling, or replacing components; in addition, the roof sheathing ismade of an aluminum extrusion material so that the invention has theadvantage of a pleasant appearance from the exterior and providing sunand wind protection.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a three-dimensional perspective view showing an overallgreenhouse structure;

FIG. 2 is a three-dimensional exploded view showing an embodiment of agreenhouse frame of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a three-dimensional rear perspective view showing a roofsheathing of the greenhouse of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a three-dimensional perspective view showing the assembly ofthe greenhouse of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a three-dimensional exploded view showing another embodimentof the frame of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a partial perspective view showing the assembly of aconventional greenhouse;

FIG. 7A-7B are other partial perspective views showing the assembly of aconventional greenhouse; and

FIG. 8 is another partial perspective view showing the assembly of aconventional greenhouse.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Further aspects, objects, and desirable features of the invention willbe better understood from the detailed description and drawings thatfollow in which various embodiments of the disclosed invention areillustrated by way of examples.

With reference to FIGS. 1-5, the “assembled greenhouse structure” of theinvention mainly comprises a frame structure 1 and transparent ortranslucent sheet materials 2, which are fitted on the frame structure1; the characteristic of the invention lies in that the frame of theframe structure 1 for positioning said sheet materials 2 is composed ofa stand 10, a roof sheathing 20, and a connector 30. The stand 10 andthe roof sheathing 20 are made of aluminum alloy extrusion; in addition,the exterior surface of the stand 10 has at least a slot coupling 11,the roof sheathing 20 on the inner side thereof has at least a slidingslot 21, the connector 30 is an elastic member, having a T-head 31 onone end thereof to be embedded in the sliding slot 21 on the inner sideof the roof sheathing 20, and the other end thereof has an elastic hookportion 32 vertically inserted in the slot coupling 11 corresponding tothe stand 10.

The cross-section surface of the slot coupling 11 of the stand 10 of theframe structure 1 shows that the width on the top of an opening edge 12is less than the width between both lateral walls extended downwardly,so as to form a barbed portion 13; the sliding slot 21 on the innerlateral surface of the roof sheathing 20 has two fins horizontallypositioned corresponding to each other; the connector 30 is made of anelastic metal plate or a plastic material, having one end thereof form aT-head 31 to be embedded in the sliding slot 21 on the inner side of theroof sheathing, and the other end thereof has a hook portion 32 formedin an arrow-tip shape, a compressed space 33 is formed between the bothends thereof, thereby enabling the connectors to have the elasticity tobe opened or closed and to be vertically inserted in the hook portion 32of the connector 30 for coupling.

To stably couple said connector 30 on the position inside the roofsheathing 20, the roof sheathing has two gaps 22 set on proper locationscorresponding to two fins on the sliding slot 21 (as shown in FIG. 3)for containing said connector 30 inside thereof. Moreover, as shown inFIG. 2 and FIG. 5, the appearance and shapes of the stand 10 and theroof sheathing 20 vary according to different locations of design of thegreenhouse structures; FIG. 2 shows a greenhouse structure with a standthat is used to set the wall, whereas FIG. 5 shows another greenhousestructure with a stand that is used to set the corner position of theframe.

Upon assembling the structure in use, first of all, a plurality ofstands 10 are formed into the frame body and then the roof sheathing 20is used to cover over the sheet materials 2 on top of the frame and aplurality of the connectors 30 are embedded into the sliding slot 21 atproper intervals (e.g., the location of the gaps 22); subsequently, theroof sheathing 20 having said connector 30 embedded therein and thestand 10 is combined together for effectively and rapidly fixing thesheet material 2. The integration of the roof sheathing 20 and the stand10 is to use the elastic hook portion 32, which is backwardly protrudingon the connector 30 inside the roof sheathing 20, to quickly couple intothe slot coupling 11 of the stand 10. In addition, the invention enablesa user to press a plurality of connectors 30 to buckle the positions andto improve the drawbacks of using rubber or plastic roof sheathing tocombine with the groove of the stand of a conventional greenhousestructure. The invention has easy assembly, disassembly, and replacementof components with less time and work; even if there is any sheetmaterial 2 or other components to be replaced, or the shape of the framestructure 1 needs to be altered after the completion of the greenhousestructure assembly, it only needs to pull out some of the connectors 30on the roof sheathing 20 to enable the hook portion 32 of each of theconnectors to come off the slot coupling 11 of the stand, the roofsheathing 20 is then easily dismantled for the purpose of repairing orreplacing components; in addition, the roof sheathing 20 is made ofaluminum extrusion material, so that the invention has the advantage ofa pleasant appearance from the exterior and is durable under weatherexposure.

Upon the assembly of the invention, the assembled greenhouse structure10 is designed with a pleasant appearance, applies an easy, convenient,and rapid assembly method, so as to save time and work in assembling,dismantling, or replacing components. To sum up, the “assembledgreenhouse structure” of the invention has the characteristics of easyassembly, disassembly, and replacement of components to possess the“practicability” and “advancement” in the industry field.

New characteristics and advantages of the invention covered by thisdocument have been set forth in the foregoing description. It is to beexpressly understood, however, that the drawings are for the purpose ofillustration only and are not intended as a definition of the limits ofthe invention. Those who are skilled in the art may make changes in thedetails of the methods, shapes, structures, or devices without exceedingthe scope of the invention. The scope of the invention is, of course,defined in the language in which the appended claims are expressed.

1. An assembled greenhouse structure which is mainly comprised of aframe structure and a transparent or translucent sheet material disposedon the frame structure, the characteristic lies in: The frame of theframe structure for positioning said sheet materials is composed of astand, a roof sheathing, and a connector; the stand and the roofsheathing are made of aluminum alloy extrusion; in addition, theexterior surface of the stand has at least a slot coupling, the roofsheathing on the inner side thereof has at least a sliding slot, theconnector is an elastic member, having a T-head on one end thereof to beembedded in the sliding slot on the inner side of the roof sheathing;the other end thereof has an elastic hook portion vertically inserted inthe slot coupling corresponding to the stand.
 2. The assembledgreenhouse structure of claim 1, wherein the slot coupling of the standhas the cross-section surface thereof which shows that the width on thetop of an opening edge is less than the width between both lateral wallsextended downwardly, so as to form a barbed portion.
 3. The assembledgreenhouse structure of claim 1, wherein the roof sheathing on the innerlateral surface thereof has two fins horizontally positionedcorresponding to each other.
 4. The assembled greenhouse structure ofclaim 1, wherein the connector is made of an elastic metal plate or aplastic material, having one end thereof in a T-head shape to beembedded in the sliding slot on the inner side of the roof sheathing andthe other end thereof has a hook portion formed in an arrow-tip shape; acompressed space is formed between both ends thereof, thereby enablingthe connectors to have the elasticity to be opened or closed and to bevertically inserted in the hook portion 32 of the connector 30 forcoupling.
 5. The assembled greenhouse structure of claim 1, wherein theroof sheathing has two gaps set on proper locations corresponding to twofins on the sliding slot for the connector to be positioned insidethereof.